


Jedi Aren't Perfect

by SnappleNinja



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 501st, Ahsoka is gone but Rex has no idea why, Anakin is ticked off, Anxiety, Confusion, Pre-Season 6, Regret, Trials, i'm terrible at tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23045011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnappleNinja/pseuds/SnappleNinja
Summary: (Post-Season 5 but Pre-Season 6)After being deployed to Kashyyyk, the 501st are still concerned about what happened to their Commander Tano, and no one is giving answers, not even Anakin.  Rex is possibly the most concerned, and struggles to confront his general about the situation.Surely, Ahsoka couldn't have been found guilty....right?
Comments: 3
Kudos: 62





	Jedi Aren't Perfect

The Jedi Council as well as the rest of the Republic hadn’t been anything but secretive when Rex asked about what was happening with Commander Tano. Heck, even Skywalker had barely said a word to the captain on his way to the trial.

The rest of the ‘boys in blue’ were confused and some concerned, of course, for their commander. She had been fighting with them since Christophsis, and now she was being framed by the other Jedi for something she clearly never did? Or, at least, Rex hoped that was the case.

He trusted her. Through thick and thin, even more so than with Anakin sometimes, Rex had quickly come to relate and understand how Ahsoka thought and perceived the galaxy around her. Sure, none of that Force stuff, but she was young, and even a clone grown in a test tube had soon become one of the Padawan’s closest friends. Sure, she had that signature _Skywalker stubbornness_ that had definitely rubbed off on her, as well as a great deal of cockiness at times, but could she really _bomb_ the _Jedi_ _Temple_ _?_

Rex almost scoffed at the thought, and he hoped he was right.

He just wanted the Republic to turn their attention back to the _war,_ rather than putting their own innocent commanders on trial. A rogue Jedi wasn’t unheard of, even during the Clone Wars, but this was going pretty far.

* * *

Finally, after returning from patrol, and becoming quite tired of spending so much time on Coruscant away from the fight, the 501st were deployed to a barracks on Kashyyyk, and General Skywalker was going to lead them. Still, no word on the results of the trial, and no official announcement of Ahsoka’s possible return to command.

As soon as Anakin met up with the group, it became increasingly clear.

The group made their way across the beach, all on BARC speeders and ready to defend themselves from the hidden droid assault. They found nothing, but there was much more beach to clear.

Not a word any more than “move” came from Anakin, and the actual debriefing had been handled by Master Mundi, possibly due to his concern for the Wookies? Rex didn’t know, he probably never would know. 

Much more time went by before the company had to hide their speeders in the forests and set up camp for the night. Aside from a few unsearchable probe droids, none of the troopers had encountered Separatist presence on Kashyyyk. It was starting to become worrying.

Rex sat himself by the fire beside Fives and Jesse, shaking his helmet with his hands in hopes of getting some of the annoying sand out. He then stared at the ground, at the mundane mixture of soil and sand, before feeling a gloved hand on his shoulder.

"..."

“I don’t think she’s coming back, Rex.”

Rex felt his entire body shift into an uncomfortable and depressed hunch, and he held his head in his hands. Of course, he knew this – Fives wasn’t telling him anything he hadn’t already deduced – but now it was starting to really settle in. He had lost thousands of brothers in this war, but the realization that Commander Tano would no longer be leading the 501st made Rex thoughtful and sorely disappointed.

Surely, she couldn’t have been found guilty...right?

“I know, Fives,” Rex spoke quietly, still staring at the ground, but he was staring deeper now, as if then he wouldn’t have to see the same disappointed face on his brother as well. “We’ll manage, won’t we?”

“Sure, we always do,” Fives nodded. “But I’m not worried about _us._ I’m worried about the general.”

The two clones looked over at their Jedi leader as he sat by another fire closer to the beach. His expression was blank, he wasn’t even frowning, and he appeared almost just as distraught as Rex. 

“You think he’s gonna ever talk about it?” Fives asked, clearly concerned that the rest of the boys would never get a straight answer about Ahsoka. “It’d at least make me feel a lot better to know that she’s at least been brought back into the Order, if not the war effort. This war is already unfair enough, Commander Tano didn’t deserve to be screwed over by her own family.”

“Fives-“

“You understand perfectly, Rex, don’t you?” Fives now turned to directly face Rex, who finally looked up to talk face to face. “It’s like the Jedi are _her_ brothers. _Her_ only people she could relate to and feel welcomed with. And then they accuse her of bombing her own home based on a sketchy video recording with missing audio.”

The winds had begun to pick up a little as Kashyyyk’s beautiful moon came into view in the distance, beyond all that water. “The Jedi are her own flesh and blood, Rex, same as you and I.”

“I honestly used to think that was how she felt with us, too,” Rex spoke in almost a whisper, more to himself than to Fives.

* * *

It wasn’t until after the defense was successful and the spying droids had been located and destroyed that Anakin made a direct effort to speak to his captain personally. The two met in private on the _Venator_ ’s bridge, as Anakin oversaw the clones loading the speeders back into the vehicle transports.

“I know you’re confused and angry, Rex,” Anakin spoke at last. It seemed strange to finally hear him talking after this whole battle, and his tone confirmed that the Jedi Knight was still quite aggravated with the mysterious results of the trial. “You all are. I could barely sleep because the Force was making it so clear. That doesn’t normally happen.” Anakin turned to look at Rex and gestured for him to stand beside him.

“You are right, General, I am.” Rex straightened himself and cleared his throat. “Although I thought it best not to question you until you were less overwhelmed with the battle, sir. Those clankers sure kept us poking around for a while.”

Anakin said nothing for a bit before sighing. “Ahsoka is no longer a Jedi.” The words came off his tongue _so wrong_ , as if he wished more than anything that they weren’t true. “As you know, she was barred from the Order so she could be placed into a Republic trial rather than having the ordeal handled by the Council exclusively for whatever reason...” Anakin began to sound like his usual frustrated self, and Rex nodded for him to go on.

“Yes, sir, we were never informed of anything afterwards. They didn’t bring her back into the Order? Was she found guilty?”

“She was found _innocent,_ actually, after I did some searching on Coruscant. Barris Offee was responsible for bombing the temple, and she framed Ahsoka in an elaborate plan.” Anakin looked off through the window at the sky, tapping his left foot absentmindedly against the floor. “The Council said they were wrong for accusing her, they gave her the chance to come back, but...” Anakin shut his eyes. “She refused. Ahsoka refused to take her Padawan braids back and left the Order.”

“Why, sir?”

“I wish I knew fully, Rex. I think I know some of it, at least she seemed to think so,” Anakin’s voice grew more somber as he recanted the events. “But I don’t blame her, you know? The Council kriffed up big time, it’s not any of her fault that this happened. I’ll be glad when Barriss is still rotting in Republic prison even after the war is over.”

“Jedi betraying Jedi, sir?” Rex tried to mask the worry in his tone. “Not to overstep, but that’s...frightening. What if the Separatists discovered this?”

“The likes of Dooku or Grievous would exploit it in any way possible,” Anakin shrugged, folding his arms. “Stuff like this has happened before, Rex, hundreds of years before the war.”

“I see,” Rex nodded, placing his helmet back onto his head before saying, “I hope the Council sees the mistakes they made.” He tightened his fist as he turned to leave the bridge. “No offense to you, sir, but Jedi aren’t perfect."

Rex muttered the last part to himself just to avoid falling in bad blood with the general.

"And they aren't always right."


End file.
